Puratos, a Belgian ingredients manufacturer, has inaugurated Sourdough Library at its Puratos Center for Bread Flavour in Saint-Vith.
The center features a collection of authentic sourdoughs from across the world and aims to preserve sourdough diversity and sourdough baking knowledge, as well as to maintain the sourdough heritage.
Sourdough is a natural leavening agent for bread. It is a blend of flour and water fermented by microorganisms, lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast.
Puratos board of directors chairman Eddy Van Belle said, "Consumers are increasingly looking for traditional recipes and authentic flavours.
"Sourdough has been used for thousands of years as an active agent in the baking process, but also as a key ingredient to give flavour. It is important to preserve this heritage, and what better place for it than at our Center for Bread Flavour."
The Saint-Vith center was established in 2009, and specializes in sourdough fermentation and bread flavor development.
The company owns four sourdough factories in Andenne and Saint-Vith, Belgium; in Pennsauken, US; and in Sils, Spain.